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East Lincoln speedway promoters stepping down for health reasons

Ernie and Boyd Knight, promoters for the East Lincoln Motor Speedway, will be stepping down at the end of the racing season in October.
The couple who have been at the track for nine years say Boydâ€™s health is declining.
â€œBoyd is diabetic, has lost a lot of weight and has a clogged aorta,â€ Ernie said.
Boyd has been sick for about six months and retiring from the track is something they have been thinking about.
â€œ(He) needs to spend time doing some things he needs to get done,â€ Ernie said.
It is still unclear who will take over the track, but James Hunnicutt, co-promoter, may do so.
The announcement of the Knights retiring comes soon after a recent scandal at the speedway where many racers competed in a race at the end of June and received no money and no trophies for what was completed.
Racers were told to come back and race since the Late Model division, the biggest show, did not get a chance to compete.
The Knights told racers their policy was that they always postpone the event if the biggest show does not get to race.
But many were outraged because they did not get credit for what was completed.
Darrel and Tracy McLaughlin, brothers who live in Mount Holly, said they will never race at the track again because of what happened.
Tracy won the Super Stock v8 division race. Darrel finished fourth in the Modified 4 division.
The brothers have filed court papers and are waiting to hear back from the judge.
They have not raced at the track since the incident and Darrel said many other people have left the track for good as well.
â€œI donâ€™t think the racetrack will stay open the rest of the year,â€ Darrel said. â€œThey have lost a lot of people.â€
Darrel said at last weekâ€™s race, two divisions were cut out because the turn-out was so low.
But Ernie said she does not agree.
She is not aware of any lawsuits that are being filed.
â€œIf there are, they are just a small court thing, itâ€™s no big deal,â€ she said.
Ernie said she has not noticed a decline in the racers.
â€œThe car count is up,â€ she said.
The Knights say they are not stepping down because of what happened at the recent race.
Ernie said she is disappointed that people cannot understand that there need to be rules in a company.
â€œWe always tried to be fair and do the right thing,â€ she said. â€œI still say we did the right thing.â€
In fact, she said things could change their decision to leave.
â€œIf Boydâ€™s health improves then we may not be hanging it up,â€ she said. by Amy Wadsworth